For March 25-31, 2026

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, a roundup of the week's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them. Yesterday was April Fools’ Day, and boy did we get fooled real good. Some practical joker handed us a can of peanuts and told us there were a bunch of short humor pieces inside. You should have seen the look on our faces when we opened up the can and discovered that not only were there no short humor pieces in there, the peanuts weren’t even that good.

What We Enjoyed This Week

If I Made Novelty T-Shirts by Jesse Eisenberg (The New Yorker) This is a premise that, at first blush, seems like it would work perfectly as an illustrated piece. But we really like the choice to leave to the reader’s imagination everything about the shirts except the text on them. It’s very funny to think about what kind of font the shirts would use, how the text would be arranged, etc. And, in that vein, the “(continues on back of shirt)” runner is also quite funny and pays off in a very satisfying way.

No, Son, Rash’kar’lagratar Isn’t the Magic Word by Lillie Franks (Points in Case) The juxtaposition of parenting tone and delightfully in-depth sorcery specifics is terrific. The way the magic situation gets out of hand is some very nice heightening, and even though we have a sense of what the final joke of the piece is going to be, Lillie still finds a surprising way to deliver it.

Slipping by Shea Socrates (HAD) Not a traditional short humor piece, but we love the funny and arresting image of the main character who “started slipping on ice and never stopped. One leg after the other, arms flapping, torso pitched at forty-five degrees. Their feet slapped the ground like Scooby-Doo and Shaggy running away.” There’s also some nice, short-humor-esque exploration of this compelling initial setup.

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Hey there, humorists!

Our comedy short, "D.E. Eye Exam," created for The New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs, has been nominated for a 2026 Webby Award for Best Comedy Video! We’re up against Jimmy Kimmel and Hacks, so it's a strong field.

We'd really appreciate your vote. Oh yeah, because you can vote for the Webbys!! It takes a minute and would help more people find our work.

Thanks for watching and for your potential support!
-Jed & Nehemiah @neversad

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Find Your Voice at the Stella Adler Devised Comedy Intensive

With teachers like SNL's Chloe Troast and a masterclass from Bowen Yang, join us! June 1 to July 2, 2026, a five-week summer intensive in New York City, led by Matt Gehring. This 30-hour-per-week program blends sketch writing, improvisation, and physical comedy to help you create original work with a final performance on the UCB stage.

Center your writing through expert mentorship in stand-up, solo work, and ensemble acting. Risk big, refine your process, and showcase your evolution in a final performance. Applications are extending through April 15. Apply today!

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An Old Favorite

This week's Old Favorite is a Brian Agler Selection (TM)--a piece whose accompanying note was written by Brian--from Newsletter #94.

If Google is Serious About Regaining Our Trust, It Must Start by Offering Alternative Ways to Torture the Small Yellow Man in Google Maps by Sean McGowan (Points in Case) Brian here. Did everyone else do that thing in The Sims where you find increasingly creative ways to psychologically torture, and perhaps even kill, your Sims? Was that just me? Oooooh boy, I know what Dr. Greenbaum and I are talking about at our next session.

Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.

Updates From Your Editors and Friends of the Newsletter

At Lit Hub, James wrote about that recent spate of AI stuff slipping past human gatekeepers. And it's not all serious--there are links to two funny videos in the piece too.

Other Humorous Writing News

We were saddened to hear that Glen Baxter, the great cartoonist, passed away this week. We’re big fans of his inimitable, surreal single-panel cartoons, and hope you’ll check out his work.